10 / 10 · 1900–1930
Farewell to representation; towards expression and abstraction.
The Kiss · Read more →By the early twentieth century photography could record the world faithfully, so painters asked what else painting could do. In Vienna, Klimt fused painting and craft with gold leaf and ornament; in Norway, Munch turned inner anxiety directly into writhing line and colour, heralding Expressionism.
Kandinsky believed colour and form could move the soul directly, like music, and painted some of the first purely pictures; Mondrian reduced painting to straight lines and the three primary colours in search of universal harmony. This site includes only a few key works that are now in the public domain.
